Lead Us Not Into Temptation, Part I

You know, when Jesus Christ came to earth, He brought a message that the people didn't want to hear. The people of His day believed they were doing everything exactly in accordance with God's will. They believed that they knew the Bible, that they were doing the things the way the Old Testament said.

Now, when Jesus Christ came, He began to show them what you do isn't the things that you're not doing what God had instructed you to do. And He used the Bible to show them the differences between what they did and what God would have them do. And it didn't set well with them. They didn't want to hear what He had to say. And over the course of the hundreds of years that the Jews kept the Word of God, they had allowed their own ideas and their own interpretations to come into it. They had put layers upon layers upon what God said and thought that was God's will.

And they, in their minds, this is exactly what God wants, and they had allowed themselves to just kind of get lulled to sleep and do things the way they wanted to using their interpretation of the Bible. And then Jesus Christ came to earth, and as He began His ministry, He began to say things and introduce things to them that were not at all not in concert with the Old Testament. He was showing what the Bible had said, but He began to introduce things to them because the Old Covenant was going to end, the New Covenant was going to be there as He came to earth, the one who would become the Messiah or who was the Messiah and who would become the King of kings and Lord of lords when He returned to earth.

And He began to introduce things to them that were new to them. And when He first talked about them, I think it probably just went right over their heads. Sometimes when we hear things, it goes right over our head, and then years later down the road, we begin to understand what God is saying. Today, what He introduced to them, we know well. But He would talk about things and He would reveal, for instance, God the Father to a nation that knew God, but they had no idea there was a God the Father and Jesus Christ who was His Son. They didn't know it the first time that He began talking to Him that He was the Son of God.

It was later that God revealed that to the disciples, but He began to talk about God the Father. And through the scriptures and the time that He was on earth, He began to reveal to His disciples what God the Father did, that there were two that have account in heaven. And God the Father would be the one who would call people and open their minds to the truth.

He would be the ones, as Jesus Christ said in His prayer, in His words to the disciples before He was arrested and crucified, it would be God the Father who would send the Spirit out to people as they repented and were baptized. It was God the Father who would resurrect Jesus Christ from the dead. It was God the Father who would be the one who would send Christ back to earth at the time only He knows, the day and hour that only He knows.

And so He introduced a concept to them that at first they didn't get. After a while they got, and as you read through the prayers and the words of Christ before He was arrested, you begin to see them when He would talk about God the Father. And they would ask, well, what do you mean? Who is this Father? And Jesus Christ would tell them, we're one and the same.

We have exactly the same plan. We have exactly the same purpose. We're exactly in accord on things. The things I bring to you, if you listen to me, you listen to what the Father will as well. Today we know who God the Father is, but they didn't know back then. It's something they had to learn.

And Jesus Christ was not at all countering the Old Testament because God the Father is there in the Old Testament as well. But if they had to learn those things and He had to bring them to that knowledge. He also came talking about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God. And the Jews back in those days, you remember well from the things that they wrote.

And even as Jesus Christ was ascending into heaven in Acts 1, will you restore the Kingdom to Israel at this time? They always believed when the Messiah came there would be a physical Kingdom. He would take command of the earth at that time, and He would be king at that time. That wasn't God's plan.

They didn't understand it. Later they would understand it. But Jesus Christ came. He was preaching about the Kingdom of God. And when they first heard it, it was like, okay, the Kingdom of God. And in their minds they probably thought when the Messiah comes because at the first time when He was talking about it they didn't know and understand He was the Son of God who would become the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in the time prescribed that He would come back to earth. They didn't understand that. But they began to hear about the Kingdom of God, and Jesus Christ would talk about it over and over and over again.

He talked about the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. He even referred to as the Kingdom of their Father at one point in the Bible. And they began to understand these things a little bit more after He ascended up to heaven, more after they received the Holy Spirit, and God opened their mind to more understanding of those things and how it all fit together.

You know, we are in the same boat today, if you will. There's a lot of things that we know about the Bible, a lot more things that we will understand about the Bible as the time grows closer and closer for Jesus Christ to return, and it is God's will for us to understand those things. But we could be in the same situation that the Jews of old were. You know, we could have taken the religion that God has opened our minds to, and the truth that He's opened our minds to.

And over time, we could alter it a little bit in ways that don't seem like they really matter, because the Jews just didn't overnight add all these laws to keeping the Sabbath day. They just didn't overnight add all these laws. It was over time, they would just change things a little bit and a little bit and a little bit to the point when Jesus Christ came to earth, it wasn't the religion, if you will, that God the Father wanted them, or that Christ wanted them even living, He was there to teach them of those things.

And we could fall on the same thing. If we depart from the Bible and just adding little things to it, or making excuses for little things and saying, God is okay, you know, God is okay with this, and over time we could have departed from the Gospel in a way too.

And, you know, as Jesus Christ, as He began His ministry, you know, He, in fact, let's go back. Let's go back to Matthew 4 and see the words that He said as He began His ministry. Because as He did that, you know, He went around and He chose disciples and He would tell them, follow Me, and they, you know, the people would just drop what they were doing and follow Christ, which is exactly what they should do. But in verse 2023 of Matthew 4, we see, well, let's look at verse 17.

Verse 17 says, From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now, the Jews might have heard that word, repent, and thought, what do we have to repent of? We're the people of God. We're doing the things that we had to do. But in that message, it's like, no, you do have something to repent of.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And I'm sure they heard those words and thought, no, we're the people of God. Not sure what it means, kingdom of heaven is at hand, but they just kind of listened to it. But then it says, as he went out and then he called disciples to him in verse 23, says, In Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, wherever he went, talking about the kingdom of God, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

The words that he said, what he was preaching to them, caught their attention, also caught their attention by the fact that he had the power of healing and God behind him, that he could heal all these illnesses. And people were drawn to what he was saying and drawn to what he was doing. And it says in verse 24, His fame went throughout all Syria. He became a household word. Who is this man who heals every disease? Listen to the words he says.

His words are different than those of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the Lululears of the Sanhedrin, if you will. He's not contradicting them. He seems to be expanding them. He uses the words of the Bible, the Old Testament, to talk about what we should be doing. He's talking about a kingdom of heaven. There's something beyond all this. So His fame was all over Syria, and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics and paralytics, and He healed them. Great multitudes followed Him.

From all over, Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan, He became a very well-known quantity. And then in Matthew 5, He gives His disciples, when He sees, it says in verse 1, when He saw the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated, His disciples came to Him, and then He gave them a foundational sermon. A foundational sermon, the first recorded words of length that Jesus Christ, and in this Matthew 5, 6, and 7, we call the sermon on the Mount, He gave some foundational principles. A lot of foundational principles, the picture of life, the Christian that is really, truly following God, what He will be like. And in it, He validated the commandments. In it, He even talked about attitudes as He began, about the kingdom of God. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And they're hearing these things for the first time, and He talks about what our attitudes will be like as He discusses these things. And they didn't probably understand those things the first time, but they were recorded for them, for you and me, foundational things as He began His ministry of what the Christian, the true follower of God, how He would live His life, the things He would understand, the things that He would do, the way He would commit Himself to God. In verse 11, He goes, Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you. Well, at that time, there was no reviling and persecuting. That came later in Christ's ministry when the rulers-at-be said, well, this guy's got a following. We don't want to follow what He says. We want things exactly the way we were. We want everything to stay the way they are. Then they would begin to understand you. He said, blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, when you talk about the things of God and live the way of God and not the way of the life of the people around you, even if they are keeping the Sabbath, even if they are saying that they are the people of God and the chosen ones. And He would go through it, and He talked about them being them. Not all the Jewish nation, but them, His disciples who He was talking to, you'll be the salt of the earth. You'll be the lights to the world. You'll be living the way that God wants you to live, not just like all the others that say they are, but you will be doing the things that God always intended in the Bible. And oftentimes, you know, we'll look at the Old Testament, we'll look at the New Testament, and I'll say, look at the symmetry between the two. There are things that God said in the Old Testament that Christ says in the New Testament, but He highlights them. And then He goes through, basically, the Ten Commandments, and tells them, I didn't come.

What I say may be different than what your religious leaders say. I didn't come to destroy the law and prophets. I'm not replacing them. They're foundational. There are things that you need to follow. But I am going to expand them. I am going to fill them up. It's no longer just a physical command that you're going to obey and follow and build into your life. There's a spiritual element into it. And He would tell them things like, you know, it's not enough just to not kill your brother. I don't even want you hating them. I want you to learn to love all men, regardless of what they do to you. They may treat you badly. They may curse you. They may want to kill you. You don't do those things. You understand what the plan of God is. You don't hate them and be the way they were. And as Jesus Christ would look around the nation of the Jews of the day, they hated people. They saw themselves as superior to so many people, which is contrary to God's way of life and what God would have us do. And He would go through that, and He would talk about reconciling with people. He would talk about divorce and marriage and what God intended a marriage to be, something that people would stay in throughout their lives, because it's a commitment, the second most important commitment that we make. He went through, and in chapter 6, at the end, He would talk about, here's God the Father. Verse 32, as He explains to them, you know what? Don't worry. Don't worry about what you're going to eat. Don't worry about what you're going to wear. Don't worry about all these things. He says, after all these things, the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God. You've got to do all these things. You've got to live life. But the overriding principle is, seek first the kingdom of God. And all the other things you do in life, you do. You don't just sort of back off and say, God, do it all for me. We still have to live life. We still have to earn livings. We still have to provide for our families. We have to do the things and live the life that God wants us to do. But He began to show them that. In chapter 7, He would talk about being judgmental and other things. And as you go through those three chapters, the Sermon on the Mount, which is just the fraction of, I'm sure, what Jesus Christ talked about that day, you see foundational principles that would be good for us to go back and measure our lives against. Are we doing things the way that Jesus Christ said in some foundational elements right here in the very first sermon that He gave to His disciples?

Because the rest of the Bible supports everything that He said on that day. You know, we grow in knowledge. We grow in understanding. But we also have to make sure we're doing the basic things and not allowing little thoughts and little actions and little things in our lives to crowd out those things and somehow deceive ourselves into thinking we're doing God's will. And maybe, maybe, just maybe, we're not following the things that Jesus Christ Himself said are foundational basic principles of the Christian life. So in these three chapters, in the middle of them, Jesus Christ also talks about something that is foundational to every Christian, something that we have to absolutely have to have. Everything in here we have to develop. In the middle of chapter 6, He talks about something that's foundational to all of us. If we're going to have a relationship with God, we simply need to pray to God in the way that God would want us to pray to Him.

And in the middle here, or not in the middle, but here in chapter 6, beginning in verse 5, He talks about that. I mean, the Jews were praying, and Jesus Christ would see how they're praying. The people who were following Him, the disciples, they were brought up in that religion. They looked at how people prayed during that time, along with everything else that He was saying that. But let's look at verse 5. He says, it says, When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites.

Hmm. Right off the bat, He says, you know, you may have been schooled in one way, you may have looked and see what people are doing, but you don't pray that way, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men.

Well, they're praying. They're saying they're praying, but you know what? They're doing it more because they want to be seen. Look how holy, look how righteous. Look at what God is doing. Look what I'm doing to Him. You don't pray that way, He says. He goes, I surely I say to you, they have their reward. They want to be seen. They're seen. Is God answering a prayer like that? Is God listening to a prayer like that? Well, He listens to the prayers, but He's listening to what's behind them as well. And when He sees the pea or saw the people, they're doing those things. It was like they're talking, but they're not living the life. Verse 6, When you pray, go into your room. And when you shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. You do it because you really are talking to God the Father. And in this chapter, in fact, as I believe verse 16 is the first time He uses the term Father. Yep, glorify your Father in heaven. As they're listening to these things and He's saying, you talk to your Father in private. It's between you and God. It's your opportunity to come before Him and pour out your heart. It's your opportunity to get to know Him and to talk to Him.

Do it in secret, not just so people see what you're doing, and not just to do a checklist, either, and not, you know, make a check on your checklist for that day. And when you pray, He says in verse 7, Don't use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think they will be heard for their many words. They go on and on and on, and they may have all these little utterances they say, because you don't do vain repetitions. If you're just going to recite memory work to God, He'll hear, but He's not really paying attention because you're not doing what He wants. And then He says, therefore don't be like them. God knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

He knows what our needs are. He knows what we need to do. He knows what He needs to provide every day.

He could just do it all for us. He could just provide it all. We never have to ask, but that isn't what our life is supposed to be. We have to learn something from prayer. We have to learn something in our relationship with Him. And then Jesus Christ, in the next five verses, says, in this manner, pray.

In this manner, pray. You know, we preach these same words in Luke 11, and at that time, the disciples, whether it was the same occasion or another occasion, the disciples said, Jesus, teach us how to pray. Teach us how to pray. They probably saw and observed how He was praying to God, what He was like. And they asked, how do we pray? And He responded to them with that question with exactly the same words that He uses here in Matthew 6. And so Jesus Christ, in this foundational principles, He tells us how to pray. Something that we need to do.

Something that we need to understand. Something that, you know, Christ says, if you pray to God, if you ask anything in My name, I'll give it. Now, that sounds like the, you know, the magic genie, right? If you just ask in My name, I'll do it.

And some people just think, if I ask in Christ's name, it'll happen. There's a lot more. There's a lot more to prayer than just asking the words. And Jesus Christ here, in the next several verses, He gives a model. Sometimes we call it a model prayer. Some people call it an Our Father prayer. You know, He says, in this manner, the words are important. But when you look at the words that Jesus Christ said, they're more than just words.

They talk about attitudes. They talk about our lives. They talk about the manner in which we approach God. Because it's not just the words we say. The words are important. But the words have to be matched with a lifestyle and a commitment to God that is not just in that 5, 10, 15, 30, 60 minutes that we pray to God. It has to be something that God is looking for the whole man. And Jesus Christ, as He spoke to the disciples there, and as He's telling them these things, He's telling them things they would learn later. You know, it's a whole lifestyle.

You have to change your mindset. You have to change your attitudes. You have to commit to God all the way. And when He talks about this prayer, He says this. He says certain things. I read this prayer, and I've mentioned that the first three years of grade school, I was in Catholic school before my prayers came in the church. And I know this prayer. I've known it from the time I was three years old. There's two prayers the Catholics pray, the Our Father prayer, and the Hail Mary prayer. I don't remember anything about the Hail Mary prayer at all, except it was called the Hail Mary prayer.

Totally useless, totally meaningless, no basis in the Bible. But the Our Father prayer, I always, always remember because it's something, right? It has its basis in the Bible. But you know what the Catholics do? I mean, here you are, first, second, and third grader. And you go to Mass every single day when you're in Catholic school, and they teach you about confession, and you go to the priest, you go into the little confessional, you tell them what you've done, you know.

Sometimes you even, as a kid, make things up because you're supposed to have sinned, and you don't even really understand what sin is. Oh, I disobeyed my parents. I did this. I did this. And then the priest listens to all this, and blah, blah, blah, and he says, blessed you be you, my son. Here's your penance. Say, five Our Fathers, five Hail Marys, and God forgives you your sin. So you have your little rosary, you know, your little rosary that you count on, and then you go out, you sit in the pew out there, and you say, Our Father, repeat the words, exact words in here in the Bible five times, and you say the Hail Mary five times, or whatever the priest prescribes to do, and you walk away thinking, I've done my job.

How empty is that? How empty is that? And yet people believe that, and people do that all through their lives, and they think if they just say the words, that's all it takes. Just say some Our Fathers, say some Hail Marys, and God absolves your sin. There's no teaching about what God, what Jesus Christ meant. He's no teaching about the attitudes you have. No teaching all about how you please God and approach Him in prayer.

Just do these mechanics. And Jesus Christ, you know, said to them, Don't just repeat these things. I'm going to give you some words, but it would be, you know, know these words.

Look at the method. Look at the pattern I'm talking about. Look at what you can do when you come to God in prayer, and what are behind the words that He says. So today I want to kind of put one of a spotlight, if you will. Spotlight, if you will, on this verses 9 through 13. And sometimes when you read the Bible and study the Bible, as you go back and you look at the details of it, especially something that's so familiar to us as this Our Father prayer, or the Lord's prayer, the model prayer, the pattern of prayer, whatever you want to talk about it. When you look at the detail and you tear it apart, you begin to see that Jesus Christ and God have something in prayer, something in mind about prayer, that maybe, maybe we need to understand more, or maybe, you know, in some of our lives, and I include myself in this, we need to go back and look, are we praying in the manner that God would have us pray? Because it's very good that we take the time to pray. It's very good that we take the time to say the words, if they're just vain words, if they're just filling up time, you know, God isn't happy about that. He says these people do that, and they just want to be heard for their many words. Does God just hear our many words?

No, he's looking for more than just words. He's looking for who we are. So let's shine the spotlight, you know. Miners have this hard hat that they put on. They have this spotlight. So as they're going in, say, we're going to use this spotlight and look, look at verses 9 through 13. I don't think we're going to get through all of 9 through 13, but let's look at what Jesus Christ said when He said, in this manner, in this manner, pray. And He begins and He says, our Father. We can stop right there and look at those two words because in those two words, Jesus Christ says a lot about how we address our prayers. We can look at the word our. O-u-r in that. What does He say by that? He doesn't say, my Father. He doesn't say, as in Him speaking, my Jesus Christ's Father, our Father, our Father. When we hear our, it's inclusive, right? This is our church. You know, we say to our family, this is our home. This is our calling. This is our, this is our beliefs. It's something that we all do and Jesus Christ is saying, pray to God, our Father. When we hear our, it's not just us alone. It's not just an individual thing. It is individual, the prayer that we give to us, but we're part of a body, is what He's saying. Our Father. You have called me into a family. You see me as family along with everyone else that's in the family that He placed. Our Father. And that word, our, Jesus Christ, didn't just kind of misspeak. Every single word that He puts in the Bible has meaning to us. Our Father. We are a family. You know, we look at the word, we look at the word Father. Father. We call Him Father. He doesn't say Yahweh. He doesn't say Creator. He doesn't say Sustainer. He doesn't say provider. He doesn't say all those other names that He could say our Father. Our Father. Now there's a lot, as I mentioned, that the Bible we learn about Father. You know, Jesus Christ said, don't call any other person in a religious sense Father. You know, because there's one Father we have. One Father in heaven. And when we think about Father, you know, it should conjure up some ideas in our mind. And some of us have, you know, had very good fathers. Others may have had not so good fathers. But when we look at the word Father, it should conjure up some things in our mind about what a Father does and what God does.

You know, God loves all of His children. God provides for all of His children.

God has compassion on all of His children, just like we as fathers and even mothers, you know, have compassion on our children. He knows the things they need, just like we as fathers kind of know what our children need. And we want to provide them. It's good for them to ask sometimes and not just anticipate every need. It's very healthy, very healthy to let our children ask. He is the spiritual head. He's the spiritual head. He's also the head, physical head of the body. He says I'll provide all these physical things to you. More importantly, provides everything that we need spiritually. An understanding of, well, the Holy Spirit that opens our minds to things, that gives us the strength to do the things we need. He provides all those things.

You know, like us as fathers, He has hopes for His children. His hope is that every single one of us will be in His kingdom. That every single one of us will repent. That every single one of us will receive the eternal life that He wants to give us. Just like we want everything good for our children, if we could just give it to them. And God just wants to give it to us.

But He has to see that we want the same thing. He's a figure of authority. No greater authority in the entire universe than God the Father. Even Jesus Christ submits Himself to God the Father.

What you say I will do. Jesus Christ said, you're my Father. I'll say the words that you say. I'll do the things that you do. My respect and my complete submission is to you. We can respect our Father because He knows exactly what the plan is and we know and learn that what He has in mind for us is perfect. Is perfect. But we have to believe in Him. We have to follow Him. We have to buy into His plan. We have to respect Him. Isn't that what the first four commandments are? That we respect God. We're in awe of Him. We follow Him implicitly. He's a teacher. He's a teacher. He's going to teach us the things that we need to know, just like we will teach our children. If we want them to grow up to be a productive human being, we take the time. We learn what their potential is. We see their talents. We help them to achieve those things so they become functioning members of society that contribute and that can lead their families well. So He does those things and also sees the things that we're weak in. And just like our children, when we see weakness is our, it's our responsibility to discipline. It's our responsibility to point those out and help them weed out the things that are going to be detriments in their lives. God does the same thing to us.

If we listen, sometimes throughout the Holy Spirit as we read something, we think, oh wow, I'm not doing things the way the Bible says. Sometimes it comes through another person, sometimes through our spouses, sometimes through a friend, sometimes through other people who might say, you might want to look at this. I see a pattern developing here that might not be healthy.

They don't do it because they don't like you, just like our fathers, our physical fathers. We didn't think, oh they don't like me. They pointed out that, you know, whatever it is, I do this, not quite right and whatever. We might get upset. That's the natural human relation or the normal human reaction. But it isn't because they don't love us. It's because they do want us. They do want us to grow up, to be productive. They do want us to fulfill what their hopes and dreams for us are, just like God wants us to be in his kingdom and has to let us know the strengths, but has to let us know the weaknesses as well. So we have all these names for God in the Bible. He is sustainer. He is provider. He is creator. He is our Savior. We look to him in Jesus Christ that says, when you come before God, as you come before God, you come before him with an attitude of respect. And as you open your prayer and you address our Father, think about the things that he is. Be mindful of who you are addressing. Don't come just flippantly because you know you need to pray that day. Think about the words you're saying and who you are coming in contact with, because we're coming into contact with the most supreme being in the universe, the one who has the answers to everything. And so there has to be an attitude that we come to God in prayer. And in the first part of this manner of praying, you see that Jesus Christ sets the tone of what we need to be, the attitude that we need to be in when we approach God in prayers. You know, sometimes we come before God and we're just thankful for everything. It's just one of those days that we're just thankful for everything. And I'm sure all of us were just grateful to God because this hurricane passed by and it had no effect on us. Other good things will happen in our lives and we're just thankful to God. And all we want to do is thank God and we're just very happy to him. And that's great. Other times it's not so good. There are problems in our lives we need to pray about and talk to God about because he can counsel and he can provide the answers or the door, not just through that, but maybe some other people and things that we read that he can open our minds to. And other times we want to do that, but even in those days, Jesus Christ is saying in this manner, pray, know who you're coming before, recognize his authority, come before him in awe with respect and understand that what he does is there for all of us. He can provide the physical. He certainly provides the spiritual.

He is the key to eternal life and how we do things, not just in the words we say in prayer, but the attitude with which we come and we see prayer. So in those first two words that Jesus Christ says, he says a lot, our Father in heaven, in heaven. We have physical fathers on earth, and to them, you know, to them we owe our respect, honor thy father and mother, the Bible says.

You know, to them we owe respect, and for fathers, you know, how Jesus Christ is a father to us is a pattern of how we should be to our children. Some of us do it well. None of us do it perfectly. None of us do it exactly like God did, but we need to be cognizant and follow the pattern that he says if we're really following him, if we're really committed to him, if we really have taken his name that we'll get to here in a bit, if we really have taken his name to do things the way that he said. But Christ says, you know, our Father in heaven, and he distinguishes him from earth because we know that this earth is not, is not God's world today. He's certainly sovereign. He's certainly aware of what's going on, but at the time Adam and Eve chose to follow the other God of this world, or the God of this world, Satan, he took his hands off and he said, you've chosen the God you want to follow, you follow him, and you, you reap what you sow. But our Father is in heaven. When God, the Father calls us, when you and I had our minds opened to the Bible, to the truth, he called us out of the world. Jesus Christ himself in his final prayer said, you know, I don't want him to come, I don't, I'm going to have them live in the world, but they're not going to be part of the world.

Their citizenship is someplace else. Our Father's citizenship, our Father where he is, is in heaven.

He's in heaven. Back in Philippians 3, Philippians 3, Paul talks about where our citizenship is, where our minds should be, how we see ourselves. Still citizens of the United States, still citizens of Florida, still citizens of Jacksonville, still obeying the laws of the land as we're counseled in Romans 13, but we have an overriding citizenship beyond that. In Philippians 3 verse 17, Paul writes to Burethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern, for a pattern. For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping, they're the enemies of the cross of Christ. There's others who will tell you they're following his way. Don't follow their examples. Look and see what they're doing. Follow their examples of those who follow what Jesus Christ said. Their end, he said, is destruction, whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things. What they're interested in, discern what they're interested in. Is it really leading you to God? Is it really leading you to what God says or is it more? What's in it for them? Is it leading you away from God or to the things of the Bible? In verse 20, it says, for our citizenship is in heaven, where our Father resides, our Father in heaven, our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Father is in heaven. Jesus Christ is in heaven.

That's where our citizenship is. Still citizens, still going through life here, but do we have the mindset that our citizenship is in heaven? Our Father is in heaven, not on this earth.

Going forward to Ephesians, or not Ephesians, Hebrews, Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11 and verse 13.

In this chapter, the author is speaking of all those who died in faith, who saw that their citizenship was not in the land that they lived physically on earth. Yes, they obeyed the laws of the land. Yes, they made their living in the laws of the land, but they knew that there was something beyond this land, something that they had a responsibility toward more than the life that they, beyond what it is. Verse 13. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They came out of the world, just like Jesus Christ admonishes us to do. Come out of her, my people. You live there. You make your living there. You're physical, but you're not part of that society. You live it. You endure in it. You follow the principles, but your citizenship and where you are is not on the earth. It's in heaven. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And as you look in the in the in Strongs, should be maybe translated a fatherland. A fatherland. You know, we've heard of some father lands.

That's where our father is. That's where our citizenship is. And truly, if they have been called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.

But they desire a better. That is a heavenly country. They desire what's going on in heaven.

They desire, and when they come before God, they recognize, my father is in heaven.

My father is in heaven. And where my attitude is, where my thoughts need to be, where my ultimate thoughts are, is to follow what's in heaven where my father is. And do that while I'm here on earth. Well, if we go back to Matthew 6.

You know, we continue. Now, we see that Jesus Christ, more than the words, the words are important.

You know, and if you listen closely to your prayers and the opening and closing prayers here, you'll see people addressing our Father in heaven, which is appropriate that we do.

Our words we hear, those words should have meaning to us. They set the tone of who we're approaching, who we are, what we are seeking in life. They're words, but they have to go deeper than words into who we are and what motivates us. Going on in verse 9, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Hallowed be your name. Probably the only time we use the word hallowed is when we think about that verse. What it means, the newer translations have it translated, let your name be kept holy.

Hallowed is holy. Let your name be kept holy.

Now, that's something we can say, but how do we keep God's name holy? Just by saying it, is it the words that we say? How do we keep God's name holy? If we're coming before Him, it's by what we do, isn't it? It's by what we do in our lives. That's how we keep God's name holy. It is holy, and when we are baptized and when we come into God's truth, our job is to take His name and not take it in vain. When we are baptized, we realize God is putting His name on me. Just like as our sons and daughters are born, we put our family name on them, God is putting His name on us. And we have a responsibility toward that name, that if we are taking the name of God, we are keeping it holy. That what we live and what we do is a good example of what Jesus Christ and God, our Father, would have us do. But we have to pay attention to the foundational things and the other things we learn because we have a responsibility to do that. That's what we committed to at the time of our baptism. We were baptized into the name of our Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. So that way, if we only say that, we have a responsibility to live up to what our Father wants. Just like as our families on earth. We want our children, and this takes a family, right? That is living God's way of life. That we want to uphold the family name. We want to bring it honor, not dishonor. We want to bring it adulation, not people to hear that name and say, I know all about that family. Words are important, but Jesus Christ says it's what we do with those. What are we doing? Well, when we come before God, can we honestly say, hallowed be your name, let your name be kept holy. And God the Father, as I come before you, you see my actions, I have been striving to keep your name holy. By what I do, by the things that I do, how I behave at home, how I behave with my physical family, how I behave in the neighborhood, how I behave at work, how I behave as a student, how I behave in everything that I do. So that people around me think, wow, that person is different. Look how they respond. They're honest. I don't have to think about that they're going to kind of mess me up or take from me. They're living the way of life that should be. They're not, they're not obstinate. They're not accusatory. They're not all these things that they could be. They're good people. What makes them so good? What makes them calm in the midst of a storm? What makes them? Where is their faith? And why aren't I more like that? Those are people who are keeping God's name holy, who know the truth of God. And even when it's more convenient to do what a family member says than doing what God says, still say, I'm doing what God says. Don't want to offend you. Don't want to upset anyone, but I have to do what God says first, keeping his name holy. Now we can look at even people in the Bible.

You know, some of the men that God holds up as examples to us. Look at Abraham. Abraham was the only man on earth who was living God's way of life. You know, God himself said as he was talking to Isaac, you know, he keeps all my commands, he keeps all my statutes. I know that he'll order his family in the same way that he has lived his life. God knew that about Abraham. And look at what Abraham's reputation was among the people around him. He was living differently than everyone else. But kings of the earth, when they would see Abraham, they respected him. They may not have agreed with his religion. They probably didn't understand his religion. He was the only one, him and his family, who were living that way, but they respected him. Abraham kept God's name holy.

Abraham lived up to the calling that he was called to, even though it would have been so easy to compromise, even though it was so noisy to say, okay, king, whatever, I'll do things your way. And he got, he made mistakes along the way, just like we do, but when he learned, he corrected those things. Oh, I didn't keep God's name holy in that respect. Oh, I lied a little bit to king of Bemalek about who Sarah was. I shouldn't have done that. And even the king called him on that. You should have just told me who she was. You shouldn't have let me, led me astray of who she was. Just tell me who she is. I have respect for you, Abraham. I see how you are. If we live our lives, as Abraham did, doing the things every day that God said when we come before him, when we say, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, God pays attention. They're saying the words, but look, it means more to them than just the words. Look at what they're doing. Look at what they're doing in their lives. Now their words have substance. Now their words have meaning. Now when they approach me in prayer, I'm going to listen because I see that it's more than words. I see that it's something that's in their heart, in their minds, of what they want to become and how they are yielding themselves to me. We can look at men like Joseph. Joseph, he kept God's name holy. Look at what he did. He was a slave. And yet when Potiphar's wife approached him, he said, I can't do it, even though as a young man, probably every fiber of his being he wanted to give in to her and thought, who would know it? But he said, I can't sin against God. I have to keep his name holy. I owe it to him to do it. And look how God rewarded him through other trials and through other setbacks. When God revealed to him what those dreams of Pharaoh were, he gave God glory. He lived his life. Look at Daniel. Daniel, he kept God's name holy. He was second in command in Babylon. The king respected him. Darius respected him. I didn't understand the religion, but they came to know, wow, Daniel, the God that you, the God that you follow, the God that you committed to, he's a God to be reckoned with. He's a true God. It's not just because Daniel wrote or ran around telling it. Daniel showed it by his actions. Joseph showed it by his actions.

We have to show it by our actions. And when we come before God and say, hallowed be your name. And when we think about who we're approaching with, we come before God and say, and know, I can approach you because I'm living the life that you've given me. And Jesus Christ said, recognize it's a responsibility not just in the 5, 10, 15, 30, 60 minutes you spend in prayer, but all the time. But all the time. Come before him with that attitude. You know, back in Leviticus, let's look at Leviticus 24. In the Old Testament, you know, God showed how important his name was. Jesus Christ magnified that through the Gospels. I mean, here in even the Sermon on the Mount, he shows it's important what we do with God's name.

And those first four commandments of how we honor God and live our lives, they're there of how we live our lives. In Leviticus 24 and verse 11, now let's pick it up in verse 10, we have the example of someone here who is disrespecting God's name. Leviticus 24, 10, the son of an Israelite woman whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel, and this Israelite woman's son and a man of Israel fought each other in the camp. So we've got this consternation going on. Sometimes in anger, things are said, you know, and sometimes in anger we can say things, we can regret them later, but God holds us accountable. One thing he tells us as Christians, watch what you say, okay? And if you've made a mistake in anger saying something, go back. Repent to God.

Repent to the person as well. Acknowledge it. But here we have these two men fighting, and then this band in verse 11 says, the Israelite woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed. Did two things. Cursed God, obviously not a good thing, right? Blasphemed God, also not a good thing. Now when you look up again what blasphemed means, we see that as a bad word and it is a bad word. Blasphemed, you know, when you look at what Strong says is the Hebrew, it's drill holes into. You know, we kind of take away the strength of it. We kind of take away the meaning of it. We kind of disrespect it. We kind of make it common when we blaspheme. We don't hold it in the reverence and the awe and the perfection that it represents. We just kind of make it common. So we see in the world around us people using God's name flippantly and every single day we hear it on TV with the people we come in contact with in the neighborhoods and other places. They just respect it and God says, no, no, no, don't ever drill holes into it. Don't bore into it. It's a solid name. Keep it holy. Keep it holy in all that you do. Don't make excuses for it. Don't go around thinking, oh, I can say this instead, keep his name holy. But this young man not only cursed God, but he blasphemed the name of the Lord and so they brought him to Moses. Verse 12 says, they put him in custody that the mind of the eternal might be shown to them. And God spoke to Moses saying, take outside the camp him who has cursed and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head and let all the congregation stone him. I take this seriously, God says. I know he was angry, but look what he did. He blasphemed or he cursed my name. My name is to be kept holy and your responsibility, children of God, is to keep his name holy. And all the people who heard him and all the congregation understand this is your responsibility. This young man needs to be put to death. Verse 15, in the news you'll speak to the children of Israel saying, whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. Take this seriously, is what God is saying, and whoever blasphemes, whoever drills holes in that name, whoever weakens it, and the strength that is supposed to represent whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. Pretty strong, pretty strong words that God says, admonitions for physical Israel, and physically they adopted that.

Spiritually God tells us, don't blaspheme my name, don't weaken my name, don't let it be misused among other people. You know what my name stands for. You've committed to follow it and to uphold what that name is. Continue to do that. Back in 1 Peter 4.

Verse 14, Peter writes, if you're reproach for the name of Christ, someone comes to say, how silly are you? You think that in the 21st century you need to keep his Sabbath day? You need to keep it all 24 hours from sunset to sunset? I mean, is it enough just to go to church for a couple hours on Sabbath morning? Isn't that good enough for God? If you're reproach and people kind of make fun of you or say you're silly or foolish, you're not with the times, if you're reproach for the name of Christ because you're doing what he commanded you to do, and if you follow him, you do what he says, you follow the example he said, if you're reproach for the name of Christ, blessed are you. Blessed are you, you're doing the things that God said to do.

You're following him first, not friends, not family, not neighbors, not your own desires, not what you hope is best, but what God says is best. If you're reproach for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you on their part.

On their part, he's blasphemed, but on your part, he's glorified.

Hallowed be your name. Hallowed be your name, Jesus Christ said when we pray to God.

More than the words, it's an attitude. Attitude backed up by what we do the entire time in our lives. Let's go back again to Matthew. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your kingdom come.

Now, I dare say that in most of our prayers, we probably use those words. Thy kingdom come. Your kingdom come. I use those words. I've come to think about what I'm saying when I say those words over the last several months as I've been looking at this manner of praying, and I ask myself, do I really mean your kingdom come? Or are they just words I'm saying?

Do I really feel the desire for your kingdom to come, or am I a little comfortable?

In the world I live in. Am I a little comfortable in what it is? Do I really feel a desire for your kingdom to come, or are there just words that I say? When Jesus Christ was on earth and he prayed, thy kingdom come, he really meant it. There was really a desire in his being for God's kingdom to come. He looked at the world around him, and he said it's a miserable world. Look how they treat each other. Look at the futility of what they're doing. Well, we look at the world around us. Do we say it's futile? It's going nowhere. Yes, it might be good today. Yes, we have food. We have all these nice things, and we live in America. But do we really pray with meaning that we come before God, your kingdom come? Because when we say those words, there's a lot that we're saying to God.

Are we mindful of everything that we say? Because before his kingdom comes, the Bible says in all the words, there's an awful lot about what you and I will go through. It'll be very good when it comes, and we'll have a lot to do when God's kingdom comes. But do we really mean it? And do we really get it? And do we really feel what God wanted us to feel when he said at the beginning of our prayer, when we come before him and we think, we don't necessarily have to say that every day, but thinking about your will is for your kingdom to come. We read through the Bible, you read through Revelation. There is just joy in heaven as the time of Christ's returns occurs. There's trumpets going on, there's vials going on, there's bowls going on, there's a lot of misery on earth, but there's joy in heaven that Jesus Christ's return is because the focus is His return, the Millennium, and then the Kingdom of God on earth forever.

Is that the same thing we think when your kingdom come?

You know, Matthew 6, verse 33, now Christ through this series of scriptures here, He says, don't worry about these things. You got to do the things. You got to work, you got to provide, you got to wake your way in the world. But don't worry about what you eat. Don't worry about what you wear. And He concludes that section by saying, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Keep your eyes on His Kingdom. Desire that. Pray for that to come and His righteousness. Well, righteousness is just not words, right? Righteousness is living that way of life. Seek you first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be added to you. He'll provide. He'll answer prayers. He'll hear our prayers when we're living the life that He wants us to live. And He's merciful. I know He hears prayers now as we learn these things.

Now His Kingdom is not of this earth. The Jews believe His Kingdom was of this earth. We know His Kingdom is not of this earth. Jesus Christ will return. We know that He will take the the thrones of this world and the kingdoms of this world, and He will make Him His own.

Now we pray for that day, and here in a few weeks when we observe the Feast of Trumpets, we'll be talking about Jesus Christ's return. We'll be talking about Him returning as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We'll be praying in Ephesus as we keep that day, Thy Kingdom come. That's what that Holy Day means. Thy Kingdom come and all that it represents.

And we'll gather together here on that day. We'll talk about those things.

It's a real thing in the future, something we are to be living for now.

And when we think about that Kingdom in heaven, you know, in the world, they have really no idea about what goes on in heaven. And I remember, again, going back to Catholic school, others of you were raised in other religions. I never heard anything about what goes on in heaven.

You know, you would want to go to heaven, and basically you would just be happy.

There was nothing that was going on. You would just sort of look at God and be eternally happy.

And I can't say, honestly, that I thought about those things and thought, oh, what does that mean? But it's like, that's all I remember ever hearing about the Kingdom of God. It wasn't even the Kingdom of God. It's just going to heaven. But there was never any talk about there's expectations of what God is going to have you to do there. It was just like, you were going to be happy. If you went to heaven, you're going to be absolutely miserable if you go to hell, right? That's all it was. The world doesn't understand what God's Kingdom is. They don't understand that in heaven there is order. There is government. There is a plan. There is everything that the hosts of heaven are focused on. Now, what they are focused on right now is Jesus Christ's return to earth. They're focused on you and I letting God prepare us for His return, to get us ready for what He wants us to do. That's where their focus is. That's where our focus needs to be as well. You know, Jesus Christ, when He came to earth, He made comments like, the Kingdom of heaven is with you. There was a gigantic step in mankind's, the plan for mankind, when Jesus Christ came to earth and He became our Savior. The first step in salvation was His. And He would say, the Kingdom of heaven is among you. The Kingdom of heaven is among you. And really, throughout the time of even the Old Testament, God has been working to establish His Kingdom. I'm getting ahead of myself, I think, on earth. You know, He has His throne established in heaven. He has His throne established in heaven. We read about it in Ezekiel. We read about it in Revelation. God's throne in heaven. He is King. He is supreme. Jesus Christ today is at His right hand. There is a throne. And in 2 Samuel 7, you know, He began to establish what the throne on earth would be, as He has been preparing the world for the return of Jesus Christ. In 2 Samuel 7, verse 12, 2 Samuel 12, says, When your days are fulfilled, and you rest with your fathers, I'll set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish His Kingdom.

He's speaking here to David. He shall build a house for my name, for my name, it will represent me, and I will establish the throne of His Kingdom forever. Forever. I'll be His Father. He'll be my Son. And then He says about, you know, He'll have committed iniquity. If He does, God will correct him, but His mercy will be there.

He set up a King, a throne, that would last forever until the return of Jesus Christ on earth. In Isaiah, Isaiah 2, beginning in verse 2, it says, It will come to come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of the Lord's house will be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills. You'll be hearing these scriptures, I'm sure, at the Feast of Tabernacles, and all nations shall flow to it. In that day, when Jesus Christ is returned, many people will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths different than what's going on today when people want to ignore the truth of God. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Ah, He'll judge between many nations and rebuke many people.

Jerusalem was set up as God's city. The city to which Jesus Christ will return gets already there. We already know where He's going to return. We already know where the law will be administered in His Kingdom, in the Millennium, when He returns to earth. It's already there. You can mark down Isaiah 9. Well, let's look at Isaiah 9. I think there was... Isaiah 9 verse 6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder. Same government that is there in heaven. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government of peace there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Energy. That's what his throne is.

His government will be on earth. When we pray, thy kingdom come, that should be something that we're living in our lives now. His government should be what we march to. His government and the way he does things should be the things that we are living by. The way it will be for all the world then, but for us now, we'll all be doing God's will. We should be doing God's will. His kingdom we know now, and that should be what we're living. And when we come before God in this prayer, he should see they're living my way. They're living my way. They get it. They're following it.

Well, I'm going to end there. I didn't even get as far as I had hoped to, but I hope you get the gist of what we've been talking about here. As Jesus Christ said some words that we could all recite by memory, right? We all can say the Lord's Prayer, the Our Father Prayer, and sometimes, you know, when I pray, I will use it as a model and go through it and ask God, just help me to know what you mean when those things. I do that every day, but to check my attitudes, to check what I'm praying and how I approach God. In times when I'm very happy and thanking him, other times when there's things that are going on we need his help in, we pray for other people, the whole nine yards. But as we look at these words to come before God, prayer is such an important part of our lives, but it's not just the words. It's not just that period of time that God is looking at when he looks at our prayers. He's looking at all that we do. We'll go on with this at another time, but you could even do some study ahead of time on that and tear apart those verses and what they mean to you and what we're doing as we come before God because our prayers can and should be meaningful he wants to hear from you and me.